- Rudolf Brun
Rudolf Brun was the leader of the Zürich guilds' revolution of 1336, and the city's first independent mayor. Since 1234, Zürich had been governed by an aristocratic council, composed to one third by members of the nobility and to two thirds by the city's patriciate, mainly consisting of influential merchants. The city's mayor was appointed from among these by the abbess of the influential Fraumünster. Rudolf was the son of Jakob Brun, a member of the city council, … - Christoph Blocher
Christoph Blocher is a conservative Swiss politician, industrialist and member of the Swiss Federal Council. As head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, he is the Swiss minister of justice. He was born in Schaffhausen and has a doctorate in jurisprudence. He is married to Silvia Blocher ("née" Kaiser) with three daughters and a son. As an industrialist, he made a fortune in the chemical industry with the EMS-Chemie corporation. - Conrad Grebel
Conrad Grebel (ca.1498-1526), son of a prominent Swiss merchant and councilman, was a co-founder of the Swiss Brethren movement and is often called the "Father of Anabaptists". - Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri (June 12, 1827 - July 7, 1901) was an author of children's stories, and is best known for "Heidi". Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels - Max Frisch
Max Frisch (May 15, 1911 - April 4, 1991), was a Swiss architect, playwright and novelist, one of the most representative writers of German literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political commitment. His use of irony is a significant feature of his post-war publications. Frisch was a member of the Gruppe Olten. - Gottfried Keller
Gottfried Keller - Felix Manz
Felix Manz, was a co-founder of the original Swiss Brethren Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, Switzerland, and the first martyr of the "Radical Reformation". - Max Weber
Max Weber was a Swiss politician. He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on December 13, 1951 and handed over office on January 31, 1954. He was affiliated to the Social Democratic Party. During his time in office he held the Department of Finance. als:Max Weber (Politiker) - Gottlieb Duttweiler
Gottlieb Duttweiler was a Swiss businessman, founding the Migros chain of grocery stores, and politician, starting the (LDU) party. Starting with five vehicles in 1925, his Migros eventually opened stores and is today one of the main grocery chains in Switzerland. The original secret to his success was bringing daily necessities to the consumer by excluding the middlemen. As a result, many producers initially chose to boycott Migros, … - Bruno Ganz
Bruno Ganz (born March 22 1941) is a Swiss actor. He is one of the leading figures in contemporary European theatre and cinema. - Alfred Escher
Alfred Escher was a Swiss politician and railroad entrepreneur. Member of the Swiss National Council from 1848 to his death 1882, he presided the council three times (1849/50, 1856/57 and 1862/63). Escher was endorsing an idea of building and running the railway lines in Switzerland based on private companies. Later (since 1853), through his position of the president of railway companies, he became a railway magnate. - Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, a poet and, as he was born in Zürich, Switzerland, is a fellow-townsman of Gottfried Keller. Meyer is a master of the novella, but in all other respects there is a most striking difference. Keller was a sturdy commoner and always retained a certain affinity with the soil; there is a wholesome vigor about him. Meyer is of patrician descent; His father, who died early, was a statesman and historian; his mother a highly gifted woman of fine culture. - Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer. He was born in Zürich. His father died when he was young, and he was brought up by his mother. At the University of Zürich he associated himself with Lavater and the party of reform. His earliest years were spent in schemes for improving the condition of the people. The death of his friend Bluntschli turned him from politics, however, and induced him to devote himself to education. - Andreas Vollenweider
Andreas Vollenweider (born October 4 1953) is a Swiss musician. His music has been categorized as World Music, Jazz, New Age or even Classical; two of his albums were number 1 on the Billboard charts simultaneously in the categories Classical, Jazz, Pop and Crossover for more than 11 weeks; his music is very dynamic and colorful. His primary instrument is an electrically modified harp of his own design, but he also plays a wide variety of instruments from around the world, … - Emil Brunner
Emil Brunner (December 23, 1889 - April 6, 1966) was an eminent and highly influential Swiss theologian. Along with Karl Barth (see Relationship with Karl Barth), he is commonly associated with the neo-orthodoxy or dialectical theology movement. - Dieter Meier
Dieter Meier is a Swiss musician and conceptual artist who is probably best known for the electronic music group Yello he formed with music producer Boris Blank. He is a vocalist and lyricist, as well as manager and producer of this music group. - Johann Kaspar Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater (November 15, 1741 - January 2, 1801) was a Swiss poet and physiognomist. - Hugo Koblet
Hugo Koblet was a Swiss champion cyclist. Born in Zürich, Switzerland, his professional cycling career began in 1946. He initially made his name on the track as a pursuiter, winning the Swiss championship every year from 1947 to 1954. In 1947 he finished third in the World Pursuit Championships, and took second place in 1951 and again in 1954. - Hugo von Hohenlandenberg
Hugo von Hohenlandenberg (c. 1457 in Schloss Hegi bei Winterthur <nowiki>[</nowiki>Zurich<nowiki>]</nowiki> - 7 January 1532 in Meersburg, Germany) was Bishop of Konstanz from 1496 to 1529, and again in 1530/1531 until his death in 1532. Hugo von Landenberg was born around the year 1457 in Oberwinterthur near Zurich. He was born into a wealthy aristocratic family which owned estates near Zurich. - Conrad Gessner
Konrad Gessner (26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss naturalist and bibliographer. His three-volume "Historiae Animalium" (1551-1558) is considered the beginning of modern zoology, and the flowering plant genus "Gesneria", he himself issuing only the "Enchiridion historiae plantarum" (1541) and the "Catalogus plantarum" (1542) in four languages. In 1545 he published his remarkable "Bibliotheca universalis" (ed. - Albert Frey
Albert Frey (b. October_18 1903, Zurich - d. November 14 1998, Palm Springs, California) was a prolific architect who established a style of modern architecture centered around Palm Springs, California that came to be known as 'desert modernism.' Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Frey received his architecture diploma in 1924 from the Institute of Technology in Winterthur, Switzerland. - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. was a Swiss-born psychiatrist and the author of the groundbreaking book "On Death and Dying", where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model. Kübler-Ross was born in Zürich, Switzerland, one of a set of identical triplets. She graduated from the University of Zürich medical school in 1957. She moved to the United States in 1958 to work and continue her studies in New York. - Johann Jakob Bodmer
Johann Jakob Bodmer was a Swiss-German author and critic. Born at Greifensee, near Zürich, and first studying theology and then trying a commercial career, he finally found his vocation in letters. In 1725 he was appointed professor of Helvetian history in Zürich, a chair which he held for half a century, and in 1735 became a member of the "Grosser Rat"." He published (1721-1723), in conjunction with JJ Breitinger and several others, … - Josef Ackermann
Dr. Josef Ackermann (born February 7, 1948) is a Swiss banker. He has been Board Member of Deutsche Bank since 1996 and its CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee since 2002. Ackermann is a graduate of the University of St. Gallen (HSG). He was born in Mels, Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Josef Ackermann modernized Deutsche Bank by focusing on shareholders. - Esther Dyson
Esther Dyson is a self-described authority on emerging digital technology, and considered a founding member of the digerati. Esther Dyson is the daughter of Freeman Dyson, a physicist, and Verana Huber-Dyson, a mathematician, and the sister of the digital technology historian George Dyson. After graduating from Harvard in economics, she joined Forbes as a fact-checker and quickly rose to reporter. - Adolf Guyer-Zeller
Adolf Guyer-Zeller was a Swiss entrepreneur. He was the son of an owner of spinning mill and creator of a textile export trade in Zürich. After the death of his father, he led the company. He studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. Later he turned his attentions to what had become a booming business, the building of railways in Switzerland. He became, among other things, a president of the Schweizerischen Nordostbahn (NOB). - Beat Richner
Dr. Beat Richner (born March 13, 1947) is a Swiss pediatrician, cellist (Beatocello), and founder of children's hospitals in Cambodia. Richner worked at the Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital in Phnom Penh in 1974 and 1975. When the Khmer Rouge overran Cambodia, he was forced to return to Switzerland. In 1991, Richner returned to Cambodia and saw the devastation that had taken place during his absence. He was asked to re-open the children's hospital. - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was a Swiss scholar born at Zürich. The son of the senior town physician ("Archiater") of Zürich, he received his education in that place, and, in 1692, went to the University of Altdorf near Nuremberg, being intended for the medical profession. Early in 1694 he took his degree of doctor in medicine at the University of Utrecht, and then returned to Altdorf, Germany to complete his mathematical studies. - Jonas Furrer
Jonas Furrer (March 3, 1805 - July 25, 1861) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1848-1861). He was elected to the Federal Council on November 16, 1848 as one of the seven initial members. - Boris Blank
Boris Blank is a Swiss artist and musician especially famous for his work in the musical duo Yello with Dieter Meier. Blank is said to possess "perfect pitch" (the ability to identify and reproduce a musical note with perfect accuracy). - Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli (February 7, 1741 - April 16, 1825) was a British painter, draughtsman, and writer on art, of German-Swiss origin. - Elisabeth Kopp
Elisabeth Kopp is a Swiss politician and the first woman elected to the Swiss Federal Council (1984-1989). Elisabeth Kopp grew up in Bern. After finishing her law studies in 1960 she married Hans W. Kopp. In 1969 she was elected to the district council ("Gemeinderat") of Zumikon, and from 1972 she served on the education council ("Erziehungsrat") of the canton of Zürich. - Annemarie Schwarzenbach
Annemarie Schwarzenbach (b. 23 May 1908, d. 15 November 1942) was a Swiss writer, journalist, and traveler who was a friend of Klaus and Erika Mann (the daughter of Thomas Mann). In 1935 she married the French diplomat Claude Clarac in Iran. Her travels, which inspired her writing, took her to the United States, Spain, Russia, Afghanistan (with Ella Maillart), and the Belgian Congo. - Gerd Binnig
Gerd Binnig (born July 20, 1947) is a German physicist, and a Nobel laureate. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and played in the ruins of the city during his childhood. His family lived partly in Frankfurt and partly in Offenbach, and he attended school in both cities. At the age of 10, he decided to become a physicist, but he soon wondered whether he had made the right choice. He concentrated more on music, playing in a band. - Josias Simmler
Josias Simmler, a new edition of the "Bibliotheca" itself, and in 1575 an annotated edition of the "Antonine Itinerary". About 1551 he conceived the idea of making his native land better known by translating into Latin parts of the great "Chronik" of Johann Stumpf. With this view he collected materials, and in 1574 published a specimen of his intended work in the shape of a monograph on the Canton of the Valais. - Richard Dindo
Richard Dindo is a Swiss documentary film director. - Karl Bodmer
Karl Bodmer, was born in Zürich, Switzerland. When he was thirteen years old, his mother’s brother, Johann Jakob Meier, became Bodmer’s teacher. Meier was an artist, having studied under the well-known artists Heinrich Füssli and Gabriel Lory. Young Bodmer and his older brother, Rudolf, joined their uncle on artistic travels throughout their home country. - Walter Hauser
Walter Hauser (May 1, 1837 - October 22, 1902) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1888-1902). He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902. He was affiliated to the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland. - Denise Biellmann
Denise Biellmann (born December 11, 1962) is a Swiss ice skater and three-time national figure skating champion. She is mostly known for her Biellmann spin. She was also the first woman credited with landing a triple lutz jump in competition (at the 1978 European Championships). She was European and World Champion in 1981, and placed 4th at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, … - Heinrich Bolleter
Heinrich Bolleter was from 1989 to 2006 the bishop of the United Methodist Church of Central and Southern Europe which comprises the countries Albania, Algeria, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Tunisia.
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